This was made possible for two reasons. My godfather lived at the time outside of Atlanta giving me a place to stay. It cost me a case of beer and later an 8×10 picture of his partner’s favorite author’s (Margaret Mitchell) grave. I also arranged it to pick up one of my dad’s friends (and the guy who goes to a lot of games with me) at his son’s place in Myrtle Beach. I could crash there and then since he hates to fly he offered to pay for the gas and motels on the way back. I couldn’t say no.
Atlanta 2016
Shenandoah Valley to Bristol
Hit a few Civil War spots on the way through Virginia before ending at Bristol for some hot Appalachian League action. It turned out that this was a doubleheader and I arrived in the second inning. About 20 minutes later you could start to hear the rumble on thunder in the distance. and I only got in five innings before the heavens opened. The grounds crew could not get the tarp on the field and it was unplayable. On a positive note that gave me the time to get to Chattanooga that night. I had intended to get to around Cleveland but this worked out. I did pass a few other Appy League cities and I did think about stopping to see if they were playing. But I didn’t.
Click here to see the pictures from New Market Battlefield and here to see pictures from Boyce Cox Field, home of the Bristol Pirates. I also did one of those things that I have wanted to do and that is walk across the street into another state, which I did in Bristol. I am easily amused. I also say the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. I’m not a fan of country music so I did not stop in and it looked like it was closed anyway.
Chickamauga
First a stop to see the General Monument near Ringgold a few miles away. This was where the Great Locomotive Chase ended when the Confederates caught the Andrews Raiders. Most of them were hanged later in Atlanta as spies.
Chickamauga was the second bloodiest battle of the Civil War and the last major Confederate victory. A hot day in late July in Northern Georgia. A thunderstorm came through early in my visit and then the sun came out and with that came the heat. It got well over 100 on this day and I changed shirts and socks multiple times. By the time I left Snodgrass Hill I was exhausted. The pictures are in the Battlefields section.
I am glad I packed plenty of cold water for this one and I needed every drop on this day. Chickamauga is a huge battlefield and the tour follows mostly only the final day’s action. I wanted to visit some of the other spots but you just can’t do it in one day. Fortunately I came back the next year but I’m still not finished. I like to get pictures of the monuments and it seems like every regiment has 3 or 4 monuments on the field and even the Confederate regiments have ones particularly the ones from Georgia.
Chattanooga
A number of Civil War sites to see here and a lovely town. Stopped in at a few breweries and took in a Lookouts game, my first foray into the Southern League. Click here to see pictures of the Civil War sites and from AT&T Field, the home of the Chattanooga Lookouts.
I anticipated sitting down for a nice dinner but when I walked up to the stadium I found out they were giving away a bobblehead and not just any bobblehead but a Byron Buxton bobblehead. At the time he was one of the top prospects in minor league baseball though he’s turned into a slightly above average big leaguer. So, I just hung around the stadium or down along the river until the gates opened. On a neat note, there is an escalator that goes from the lot down by the Tennessee River up to the stadium.
Birmingham
I needed something to do on a Sunday and I found some things to do. I first started with Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge before heading down to Resaca since the new park was only open on weekends. I think that might have changed since but at the time the park was brand new. Then it was into Alabama. First time into Alabama. Visited a couple of breweries in town before nabbing a spot on the street near the stadium. Click here for pics from Regions Field, home of the Birmingham Barons. I didn’t pay attention to the start time and when I planned this trip it was listed as TBA. The other Sunday games they played was at 3:05 but this was at 6:05. I spent the extra time walking around the park near the stadium in 103 degree weather with thunderstorms down to the south.
Should have done more, which is my biggest regret from this day and I should have at least taken a walk around downtown. It was hot today to say the least but my Yankee butt was starting to be able to handle it better. Hit a major accident on 57 on the way back to Chattanooga. Throw in the time zone change and I got back to the motel much later than originally anticipated.
Northern Georgia
Started my Monday heading towards Atlanta visiting Tunnel Hill and Allatoona Pass then on Kennesaw Mountain and then to Rome for a Rome Braves game. Not much going on on a Monday but Rome was home and it was either this or nothing. I stopped at a gas station to fill up in town and decided to check out the beer selection. I found that Yuengling beer was cheaper here than in Pennsylvania. I also had one of the best stadium meals I have ever had at the BBQ shack out in right field. It was so good, I’d go back here just for that.
As the game progressed a massive thunderstorm rolled in. There was thunder and lightning all around and a tornado watch was issued for the next county over. They wound up playing the whole game but the home team was shellacked, something like 17-2. That was disappointing since one of the Braves’ top prospects Touki Toussaint was pitching for them. I left early when it looked like the lightning was getting closer. Drove down Georgia 1 and made it to La Grange on that hot and muggy night. Pretty sure a hooker was waiting to get a motel room right behind me.
Andersonville
The heat went away but the humidity stayed. First stopped in Columbus to visit the graves of some notable Confederates. Didn’t know that a museum for the Confederate Navy was in town. I would have figured that would be in say Mobile or Wilmington or Charleston but apparently not. Would have stopped if I had known in advance but it was on to Andersonville, the most notorious POW camp from the Civil War. There are few places in this country that witnessed that kind of suffering. Click here for pics from my visit there.
Macon area
The sun came out as I left Andersonville as I made my way to Ocmulgee National Monument and to nearby Griswoldville, the only battle during Sherman’s March to the Sea. Click here for pictures from Griswoldville. Ocmulgee is an ancient Native American Mound complex outside of Macon. Those were some large mounds and they would have been bigger had not the railroad plowed through them in the antebellum days. There was also a small skirmish that occurred here during Sherman’s March to the Sea but there was nowhere to pull over and visit the display that I saw.
Griswoldville was not the easiest place to find but I eventually found it. Not much there aren’t a lot of battlefields south of Atlanta. In that case the only other one is Jonesboro and I skipped that one. Shouldn’t have.
Atlanta
Arrived in Atlanta plenty early to avoid the notoriously bad traffic which my godfather constantly talks about. Actually wound up keeping moving pretty well and got parked easily enough at Turner Field. After the game I made it out to my godfather’s place in Cumming. It’s a bit of a drive but worth it not to have to get a motel room.
The next day I hit the toursity spots in Atlanta like the World of Coca-Cola and going up in the Peachtree Tower and walking around downtown Atlanta and the capitol building.
The following day I tried to find some of the battlefields of the Atlanta-area but drove right by Peachtree Creek and just kept going so I didn’t bother with the others in the city. I did make it out to Pickett’s Mill though.
While the breweries in town were closed I did find the Hop City on Marietta that had a wide selection of new beers to try. Of course the main stop was to see the Pirates play at Turner Field though I think I would have been better served hitting Gwinnett on Thursday rather than the Braves game. Click here for pics. A rain delay hit and the Pirates looked like the Pirates.
Augusta to Columbia to Myrtle Beach
Made a brief foray into Augusta driving by the famous golf course to see the graves of some prominent Confederates buried there and then drove to Columbia. Found a nice beer bottle shop called the Craft and Draft near the university with a great selection to continue stocking up.
Then on to Congaree National Park. Man it was hot and humid there. Congaree is the last remaining primeval forest on the east coast of the US and despite being only about 25 miles from Columbia it was too difficult to get logging equipment in and hence was never logged. This is what the US looked like hundreds of years ago. Walked the Harry Hampton Boardwalk and that was enough to leave me dripping in sweat.
After leaving Congaree I made the long drive to Myrtle Beach via Sumter. It doesn’t look like a long drive but it is. Took almost 3 hours to get there and some of that was heavy traffic coming into Myrtle Beach on 501. Not sure if it was traffic or a wreck. Took in the Pelicans game with dinner at Liberty Brewing at Broadway at the Beach.
Charleston
Took a day excursion to Charleston to see the sites and see the River Dogs. Crossed Ft. Sumter off the list taking the ferry out and I visited Fort Moultrie too. I had been here before back in 1996 but it was during the government shutdown and you couldn’t go out to the fort. So, the visit to Fort Sumter was the highlight of my trip.
Toured Patriot’s Point taking in the Vietnam Experience, the USS Yorktown and the USS Laffey. Didn’t go on the submarine. I will say Patriot’s Point is just my kind of place. Hit Palmetto Brewing and had dinner at Southend Brewing, which has closed since and become a Lagunitas brewpub.
Then it was over to Joseph Riley Park. It turned out the game the night before was rained out and they were playing a doubleheader. I walked in in the sixth inning as it never occurred to me that the game would have been rained out. These were the days before I had a smartphone or even a tablet and admittedly that was part of the reason I asked for an iPad that Christmas.
Wilmington
Traveled up to Wilmington on that Sunday as well for a day excursion. Visited Moore’s Creek Battlefield (pics in the Battlefields section) and Fort Fisher (pics in the Battlefields section). I also toured the USS North Carolina before hitting a few breweries in town and having lunch at Front Street Brewing before heading back to Myrtle to take in the Pelicans game. Wilmington is only about an hour north so it was an easy drive each way.
Bentonville, Fort Raleigh, the Wright Brothers
Time to start heading back north. The first stop was at Bentonville since I got the Wilmington spots the day before. Bentonville was the largest Civil War battle in North Carolina and the last major battle of the war. The Confederates attacked Sherman on his way north and it did not go well. I felt a bit rushed since there was a nice wreck near Wilmington that I had to sit through and then I took some back roads to get there.
Then the long drive to Fort Raleigh, the first English settlement (which mostly buried under the water except for the fort) and finally to Kitty Hawk where the first powered flight occurred. After that I drove up through Cape Hatteras to Norfolk where I took in a Norfolk Tides game.
Skyline Drive
Wanted to hit Monticello the following day but we couldn’t find a motel in Charlottesville so we moved on. They were all packed for some event (or for who knows what?). Wound up staying at a tiny motel near Skyline Drive since that was the first we came to. Turns out the next exit had like 10 of them but when it is midnight who cares. The following day I drove the entire length of Skyline Drive taking the entire morning and a good chunk of the afternoon. It was quite nice up there, about 75 degrees compared to mid 90s down on the valley floor.
Then it was the drive to Washington, PA via Winchester and Cumberland for the Wild Things game which we made just in time. It was easier than going into Pittsburgh for the Pirates’ game. OK, they had a 45 minute rain delay but I was in time for the real start of the game after eating at a nearby fast food place and the Wild Things are not selling their games out. Hit the Pirates and Padres game in Pittsburgh the next day since they played a matinee and gave away a bobblehead before going home. That was why, otherwise I would had come home two days before. What I do for a Jung Ho Kang bobblehead which is pretty much worthless now.